All the pretty machinery under the sky

[sovay]

Bad news: I just woke up now. Good news: I slept six hours. Frankly, after this week, I'll take it. A few things off the internet before I head out to meet rushthatspeaks and Fox and later phi—

1. Solaris has put up a hexarchate faction quiz for Yoon Ha Lee's Machineries of Empire! I got Shuos, which is not what I was expecting. Maybe I flunked the trolley question.

2. Girl of the Port (1930) had almost no internet footprint when I watched it—I could find links to contemporary reviews on Wikipedia, but almost nothing by anyone closer to me in time. By now it's been reviewed by both Mondo 70 and Pre-Code.com, clearly from the same TCM showing. Honestly, this is pretty cool, even if I wish it were more like discovering and promoting a cult treasure than a thought-provoking trash fire.

3. I have been meaning to link this poem since Juneteenth: David Miller's "Hang Float Bury Burn." I wish I knew where to nominate non-speculative poems for awards.

Comments

[movingfinger]

It would be nice if they linked to you....

Pre-code.com mentions that the guy was cleaning with gasoline! Yeah, that was a thing. My dad would do it, I'm sure without evidence that my granddad would too, and a man I knew (who recently died, in his 70's) would clean stuff with turpentine like... like you or I would use almost any other cleaner that wasn't flammable. Why more houses didn't spontaneously combust, I do not know.

[sovay]

It would be nice if they linked to you....

I appreciate it. I am not sure that I write the most internet-findable reviews, or that Dreamwidth looks like it's serious. I need a website, but I have not yet managed to put one together. Things in my life keep interfering.

Pre-code.com mentions that the guy was cleaning with gasoline!

It's true! It is a bucket helpfully marked "Gas" and it goes up as you would expect when McEwen flicks a cigarette into it. I still went and double-checked the existence of this practice online before including this detail in my review just in case I was misinterpreting the scene, because it looked to me like an invitation to a fire.

My dad would do it, I'm sure without evidence that my granddad would too, and a man I knew (who recently died, in his 70's) would clean stuff with turpentine like... like you or I would use almost any other cleaner that wasn't flammable.

I must be more used to turpentine as a cleaning material, because it does not trigger the same aghast alarm as the idea of scrubbing with gasoline. I also associate it with linseed oil—I have a distinct scent-memory of the two together—which may or may not be flammable.

Why more houses didn't spontaneously combust, I do not know.

Seriously!

[phi]

I got Liozh which only surprises me in that I thought I'd be a slam dunk for the Nirai.

[yhlee]

I thought I was slam dunk for Shuos (mainly because of my answer to the Trolley Problem). I ended up Nirai. IT'S CALENDRICAL ROT.

EDIT: Also, it could have been something as random as your answer to the food question. David Moore (at Rebellion Publishing) came up with that one and I'm still not sure how he decided which food was what faction. XD

[sovay]

I thought I was slam dunk for Shuos (mainly because of my answer to the Trolley Problem). I ended up Nirai.

So, you never get to knock your math skills again.

IT'S CALENDRICAL ROT.

THANKS, SOLARIS, YOU BUNCH OF HERETICS.

[phi]

It's definitely neither Hogwarts house or favorite animal as the determining feature because I took it multiple times changing those two answers and always got Liozh. I'm not sure if I answered the trolley problem "wrong" but I would pull the lever without hesitation.

[cyphomandra]

I am also Liozh, which I am amused by. (Also, I have a list of favourite 80s sf movies, none of which appear. I was relieved to see the Liberator on the starships list)

Your review of Girl of the Port was fascinating and I am still thinking about it.

[sovay]

Also, I have a list of favourite 80s sf movies, none of which appear.

Heh. What are some of them?

(Also, I have a list of favourite 80s sf movies, none of which appear. I was relieved to see the Liberator on the starships list)

. . . It occurs to me that choosing a Shadow vessel may have influenced my assignation of alignment. Babylon 5 was the defining TV show of my adolescence, though.

Your review of Girl of the Port was fascinating and I am still thinking about it.

Thank you.

[cyphomandra]

Heh. What are some of them?

Dune, Enemy Mine, Back to the Future, Blade Runner, and Explorers are probably top of my list, although some of those might suffer a bit on rewatching (none of them are particularly good on women - I had to hold out for the 90s and Terminator 2!). I also remember being obsessed with Dreamscape, which has psychic powers and entering people's dreams, and is one of those movies I am happy not to go back to.

[choco_frosh]

Yay sleep, at least?

[sovay]

Yay sleep, at least?

Definitely yay sleep!

[asakiyume]

Oh wow, that poem that poem. Yes, I would *Love* for it to win a prize. This line just dazzled me:

– glass opening its feathers
– on impact


Whoa. Whoa.

And then, that feather imagery later:

– the cyanotic waters of the Monongahela
– under feathers of ice

Thank you for sharing it!

[sovay]

Thank you for sharing it!

You're welcome! It stayed with me.

[rinue]

I am Andan! I am not quite sure what that means, but I'm excited about it. Guess I need to wishlist Raven Strategem.

[sovay]

Guess I need to wishlist Raven Strategem.

I strongly recommend it!

[cmcmck]

Talking of all the pretty machinery, see my latest! :o)

[sovay]

Talking of all the pretty machinery, see my latest!

That is some very fine machinery!